Virginia Rail
Wild Bird Feeders ... Wild Bird Food / Seed ... Binoculars ... Humming Bird Feeders / Feed ... Bird Houses / Bird Nests ... Woodworking Instructions to Build Bird Houses ... Recommended Books
The Virginia Rail, Rallus limicola, is a small waterbird, of the family Rallidae.
Adults are mainly brown, darker on the back and crown, with orange-brown legs. They have long toes, a short tail and a long slim reddish bill. Their cheeks are grey, with a light stripe over the eye and a whitish throat.
Their breeding habitat is marshes from Nova Scotia to California and North Carolina, also in Central America and South America. The female lays 5 to 13 eggs in a platform built from cattails and other plants in a dry location in the marsh. Both parents care for the young, who are able to fly in less than a month.
Northern populations migrate to the southern United States and Central America. On the Pacific coast, some are permanent residents.
These birds probe with their bill in mud or shallow water, also picking up food by sight. They mainly eat insects and aquatic animals.
This bird have a number of calls, including a harsh kuk kuk kuk, usually heard at night.
These birds remain fairly common despite continuing loss of habitat, but are secretive by nature and more often heard than seen.
Copyright: Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia.org
If you would like to add to or correct any of the above information, or would like to share with web visitors your own experiences, please e-mail the webmaster.
Photo contributions are welcome!
Relevant Web Resources: USGS
